Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

How racial identity relates to brain scans and blood markers of Alzheimer's disease

Updated

Abstract

Significant differences in biomarker values were observed between 260 older adults racialized as Black and/or African American and non-Hispanic white.

  • Global Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) varied significantly between the two racialized groups.
  • Cortical thickness measurements also showed notable differences across the groups.
  • Levels of p-tau181 and p-tau231 differed significantly, suggesting variations in Alzheimer's disease pathology.
  • These differences were consistent regardless of age, sex, genetic risk factors, education, or cognitive assessment scores.
  • Racialization may need greater emphasis in Alzheimer's disease clinical research to ensure equitable assessments.

Simplified

Key numbers

2.68
Higher p-tau181 in AA participants
Mean p-tau181 level in AA participants (natural log transformed)
1.17
Higher in NHW participants
Mean in NHW participants (natural log transformed)
65.5
Age difference between groups
Mean age of AA participants in years

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Funding

Competing interests

National Institute on Aging grants P30 AG066468, P50 AG005133, RF1 AG025516, R01 AG052446, R01 AG052521, P01 AG025204, R01 AG063752, and R01 AG083874, T.K.K. and the Karikari Laboratory were supported by the NIH (R01AG083874, U24AG082930, P30AG066468, RF1AG052525, R01AG053952, R37AG023651, RF1AG025516, R01AG073267, R01AG075336, R01AG072641, and P01AG025204) and a professorial endowment from the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh. H.Z. is a Wallenberg Scholar and a Distinguished Professor at the Swedish Research Council supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council (#2023‐00356, #2022‐01018, and #2019‐02397), the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101053962, and Swedish State Support for Clinical Research (#ALFGBG‐71320). K.B. is supported by the Swedish Research Council (#2017‐00915 and #2022‐00732), the Swedish Alzheimer Foundation (#AF‐930351, #AF‐939721, #AF‐968270, and #AF‐994551), Hjärnfonden, Sweden (#ALZ2022‐0006, #FO2024‐0048‐TK‐130, and FO2024‐0048‐HK‐24), the Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the County Councils, the ALF‐agreement (#ALFGBG‐965240 and #ALFGBG‐1006418), the European Union Joint Program for Neurodegenerative Disorders (JPND2019‐466‐236), the Alzheimer's Association 2021 Zenith Award (ZEN‐21‐848495), the Alzheimer's Association 2022‐2025 Grant (SG‐23‐1038904 QC), La Fondation Recherche Alzheimer (FRA), Paris, France, the Kirsten and Freddy Johansen Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark, Familjen Rönströms Stiftelse, Stockholm, Sweden, and an anonymous philanthropist and donor. T.K.K. has served as a consultant/on advisory boards for Quanterix Corp., SpearBio Inc. and Neurogen Biomarking LLC., holds minority equity in Neurogen Biomarking LLC., and has received honoraria for grant review from the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery, Canada, all outside of the submitted work. T.K.K. has received blood biomarker data on defined research cohorts from Janssen and Alamar Biosciences for independent analysis and publication, with no financial incentive and/or research funding included, outside of the submitted work. T.K.K. is an inventor on patent #WO2020193500A1 and patent applications #2450702‐2, #63/693,956, #63/679,361, and 63/672,952, outside of the submitted work. H.Z. has served at scientific advisory boards and/or as a consultant for Abbvie, Acumen, Alector, Alzinova, ALZpath, Amylyx, Annexon, Apellis, Artery Therapeutics, AZTherapies, Cognito Therapeutics, CogRx, Denali, Eisai, Enigma, LabCorp, Merry Life, Nervgen, Novo Nordisk, Optoceutics, Passage Bio, Pinteon Therapeutics, Prothena, Quanterix, Red Abbey Labs, reMYND, Roche, Samumed, Siemens Healthineers, Triplet Therapeutics, and Wave, has given lectures sponsored by Alzecure, BioArctic, Biogen, Cellectricon, Fujirebio, Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Roche, and WebMD, and is a cofounder of Brain Biomarker Solutions in Gothenburg AB (BBS), which is a part of the GU Ventures Incubator Program (outside submitted work). K.B. has served as a consultant and at advisory boards for Abbvie, AC Immune, ALZPath, AriBio, Beckman–Coulter, BioArctic, Biogen, Eisai, Lilly, Moleac Pte. Ltd, Neurimmune, Novartis, Ono Pharma, Prothena, Quanterix, Roche Diagnostics, Sanofi and Siemens Healthineers; has served at data monitoring committees for Julius Clinical and Novartis; has given lectures, produced educational materials and participated in educational programs for AC Immune, Biogen, Celdara Medical, Eisai and Roche Diagnostics; and is a cofounder of Brain Biomarker Solutions in Gothenburg AB (BBS), which is a part of the GU Ventures Incubator Program, outside the work presented in this paper. All other authors have no conflicts to disclose. Author disclosures are available in the supporting information.
PubMed

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